#fandom nonsense

Namely, how Four, uniquely out of all the other Links, is... just not allowed to be his own person. Either he's four separate entities in a trench coat, or he's playing second fiddle to his own evil clone. It's like... the fandom doesn't care about him as an individual. He feels like he’s always part of a set, either because people prefer his individual pieces instead of him as a whole and complete character on his own (aka the way he's consistently been written in the comic from day 1), or because they want to see him and his evil clone make out or be a dynamic duo. Regardless of how his relationship to Shadow is written, Shadow more often than not takes center stage or has equal billing with Four in fanfic.

Which is strange to me, because every Link has had to say goodbye to a companion or loved one at the end of their adventures, some that they were even implied to have romantic feelings for, but Shadow is constantly looming over Four’s character in fanfic in a way that none of the other Links' supporting casts do. Just think about how strange it would be if in every other Twilight-centric fanfic, the author found a way to reconstruct the Twili mirror or otherwise concocted a way to bring Midna back so she and Twilight could be together again, and Midna was elevated to an honorary member of the Chain, traveling with the group alongside the rest of them.

Even Legend doesn't get this treatment with Marin. He angsts over her plenty, sure, but people leave her gone/dead/out of reach far more often than not. Time hardly ever gets Navi back save the very few instances he goes to the Downfall Timeline and meets her there (and even then, he can't take her with him, she has to stay behind). Wind never gets the King of Red Lions back and rarely gets Linebeck. Even Four and Ezlo never reunite, and Four had a far better relationship with Ezlo than he ever did with Shadow, even if you decide to incorporate the manga canon into your own personal headcanon. And yet, manga!Shadow is considered so integral to Four's character that he must always be included somehow. All the other Links are allowed to grieve, find closure, and move on, yet Four is not.

This all gives me the feeling that a lot of people... don't really like or care about Four as his own character or his relationships to the other Links. They either like the Colors and/or they like Shadow and simply want an excuse to write them/him. Shadow's connection to Four in particular is often used as a convenient excuse to bring him back into the action and to make Four “more interesting” by association. Four is a means to an end, it's Shadow who is the true star of the show. When this specific interpretation of Shadow is not, as far as we know, even canon in the first place! The LoZ mangas are not canon to the games, they are separate entities altogether. ofc it's fine to bring in elements of the mangas to flesh out headcanons (Piyoko our beloved); Jojo even did this in part with her characterizations of Four’s pieces (Blue being hotheaded, Red being emotional, etc.), but LU is first and foremost a love letter to the LoZ games. And I have read exactly one (1) fic that portrayed Four's Shadow as unabashedly evil as he was in the Four Swords game.

To be clear, I don't hate manga!Shadow by any means, but it's getting hard to not resent the character on some level when he so constantly overshadows Four (pun not intended). When Four cannot exist as a character separately from him, when they are constantly a matched set that is joined at the hip in every other fanfic, every other AU. Even if I might enjoy some of those fanfics and AUs, occasionally you just want some variety, man.

And lest you think I am being hyperbolic in my assertion that the fandom vastly prefers Four as part of a set with Shadow instead of exploring his relationships with the other existing Links in the comic, I ran the numbers on AO3, going through all of Four’s common relationship tags, both platonic and romantic (excluding Four’s Colors in most of my tallies because there was only 1 or 2 for each of them, not enough to really matter). This is what I found:

Four & Sky = 202 fics Four/Sky = 6 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with Sky is highlighted = 208

Four & Time = 111 fics Four/Time = 19 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with Time is highlighted = 120

Four & Legend = 297 fics Four/Legend = 3 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with Legend is highlighted = 300

Four & Hyrule = 156 fics Four/Hyrule = 5 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with Hyrule is highlighted = 161

Four & Twilight = 166 fics Four/Twilight = 6 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with Twilight is highlighted = 172

Four & Wind = 242 fics Four/Wind = 27 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with Wind is highlighted = 269

Four & Warriors = 120 fics Four/Warriors = 1 fic Total fics where Four’s relationship with Warriors is highlighted = 121

Four & Wild = 230 fics Four/Wild = 6 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with Wild is highlighted = 236

Dot & Four = 57 Dot/Four = 32 fics Total fics where Four’s relationship with his Zelda is highlighted = 89

Four & Shadow / Shadow & any combination of the Colors = 251 Four/Shadow / Shadow/any combination of the Colors = 251 Total fics where Four/his Colors’ relationship with Shadow is highlighted = 502

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To contrast this, let’s look at the breakdown of fandom darling Legend’s relationship tags:

Legend & Sky = 393 fics Legend/Sky = 7 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Sky is highlighted = 400

Legend & Time = 321 fics Legend/ Time = 14 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Time is highlighted = 335

Hyrule & Legend = 1,026 fics Hyrule/Legend = 58 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Hyrule is highlighted = 1,084

Legend & Twilight = 334 fics Legend/Twilight = 4 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Twilight is highlighted = 338

Legend & Wind = 349 Legend/Wind = 6 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Wind is highlighted = 355

Legend & Warriors = 727 fics Legend/Warriors = 26 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Warriors is highlighted = 753

Legend & Wild = 511 fics Legend/Wild = 18 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Wind is highlighted = 529

Legend & Marin (+”Link & Marin”, + “Linked Universe”) = 20 fics Legend/Marin (+”Link/Marin”, + “Linked Universe”) = 352 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Marin is highlighted = 372

Legend & Ravio (+”Link & Ravio”, + “Linked Universe”) = 291 Legend/Ravio (+”Link/Ravio”, + “Linked Universe”) = 555 Total fics where Legend’s relationship with Ravio is highlighted = 846

Legend & Fable = 139 fics Legend/Fable = 25 fics Total fics where Legend’s relationship with his Zelda is highlighted = 164

So, let’s break this down a little. Shadow is Four’s most popular relationship pairing by a landslide, having 502 fics compared to the closest other relationship pairing, which is Legend at 300 fics. That’s almost double the fics he has with any other character. By contrast, Four is Legend’s second least popular fandom relationship pairing, with only his Zelda, Fable, having fewer fics with him. In addition, the amount of fics Legend has with the other characters is much more evenly spaced out, with Ravio trailing Hyrule by 238 fics, and Warriors only trailing Ravio by 93 total fics, while 10 out of 11 relationship tags reach or surpass 300 fics. Four, conversely, has not surpassed even 200 fics with 5 out of 10 characters, making the sheer surplus of Shadow fics (who, may I reiterate, is not even LU canon like Ravio or Marin are) seem even more overwhelming by comparison.  

Now, obviously, I'm not the fandom police. People can do what they want, write what they want, draw what they want, have whatever headcanons they feel like, we’re all here to have fun. I know that the FS manga fandom has a long history in LoZ spaces, and people are really attached to the headcanons and pairings from that manga. The FS manga Link(s) and LU Four just aren’t the same character, though, inasmuch as Jojo took a couple elements of that story to flesh out her version of the character, and as a big fan of this character as he appears in LU canon, it just... it's hard. My boy is such a cool and multifaceted character the way he's portrayed in LU canon, and he deserves to be appreciated on his own merits more, not just as half of a ship/duo or the trench coat that other more beloved characters hide inside.

I just desperately want there to be more fics exploring his relationship to his predecessor Sky, to his successor Time, to his possible descendent Wind, to Twilight, the guy he probably gets along the best with in canon. I want to see him go on tiny adventures with Hyrule, talk about the Palace of the Four Sword with Legend (or at least just be blacksmithing buddies with Legend), talk about teamwork and tactics with Warriors, get pulled into harebrained schemes against his better judgement with Wild. But no. It’s just "Exploration of how the Colors relate to each other/Let’s resurrect Shadow, gang!/I have been unable to think of anything but my bestie-slash-boyfriend Shadow since the day he left me, I’ve pined so much TT TT/This guy who just came out of nowhere to save the day is Shadow, he’s joining the Chain and will be traveling with us from now on,” again and again and again and again. And I’m just so flippin’ tired. orz

I know every stan of every LU Link is in the trenches in some way when it comes to fandom mistreatment/mischaracterization of one’s blorbo, but this is my particular trench, and it's feeling increasingly lonely here. 😔

I know I'm probably just yelling into the void, but if you have any similar pet peeves, about Four or any of our other blorbos, feel free to share. Getting stuff off your chest can be therapeutic sometimes.